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"My days are too long," Tatiana said to hi the beaten smile of someone who had worked solidly for twelve hours "I made you a whole tank today, Alexander! With a red star and a number thirty-six Do you kno to operate a tank?"

"Better than that," he replied "I kno to co except shout orders and get killed"

Tatiana didn’t set transferred to the bread facility Instead of tanks, so bread"

"The more the better," said Alexander

"Tanks?"

"Bread"

"They promised all of us a bonus -- can you believe it? -- if we made tanks over our quota A bonus!" Tatiana chuckled "The econoe that we should want to work harder for a couple of extra rubles -- goes against everything they’ve been teaching us from birth -- but there it is"

"There it is, indeed, Tania," said Alexander "But don’t worry, they won’t stop reconstructing you until you won’t want to work harder even for a couple of extra rubles"

"Stop being subversive" She smiled "No wonder you’re not safe In any case, it nearly killed Zina She said she was ready to join the volunteers, that it couldn’t be worse than this pressure"

Alexander was thoughtful The paveether, their arht," he said finally "Don’t make any mistakes You’ve heard the story of Karl Ots, haven’t you?"

"Who?"

"He used to be the Kirov plant director when it was still called Putilov Works Karl Martovich Ots After Kirov’s assassination in 1934, Ots tried to maintain order, to protect his workers from the threat ofretaliation, for lack of a better word"

Tatiana had heard sorandfather "Arrest? Death?" she said

Alexander nodded "Yes and yes Anyway, one day when a T-28 tank was being inspected, a bolt was found to beThe tank had been about to be delivered to the army There was of course a scandal and a frenzied search for the ‘enemy saboteurs’ to reveal themselves" Alexander took a breath Tatiana waited

"Now, Ots knew," he continued as they stopped at a junction, "that it had just been a stupid otten to screw in the bolt -- no more, no less Ots knew, so he refused to peruess," Tatiana said "He failed"

"It was like walking into a tornado and saying, but it’s just wind"

"A tornado?" Tatiana asked quizzically

Alexander went on "Hundreds more people vanished from the factory"

Tatiana bowed her head "Ots?"

"Hmm With hi department, the tank-production units, the personnel department, the machine-tool shop, not to mention former Putilov plant workers -- those who had h positions in the government, such as the Novosibirsk Party Secretary, the Secretary of the Neva Party region -- oh, and let’s not forget the Mayor of Leningrad He disappeared, too"

The light had turned green, then red, then green again When it was red, the two of the arht Finally she spoke "So what you’re saying is, be careful with the bolts?"

"That’s what I’ht We don’t need that kind of pressure She is exhausted All she wants is to go to Minsk and join her sister" Minsk was the capital of Byelorussia

Alexander rubbed his eyes and adjusted his cap "Tell her," he said tensely, "to forget Minsk Concentrate on the tanks How many are you supposed toshort"

"They’re asking too much of you"

"Wait, wait" Tatiana put her hand on his aret Minsk?"

"Minsk fell to the Gerrave finality

"What?"

"Yes"

"Thirteen days ago? Oh, no, no" She shook her head "No, Alexander, it can’t be Minsk is only a few kilometers south of" Tatiana couldn’t say it

"Not a few, Tania,her "Hundreds of kiloiving out "Not that many Why didn’t you tell me?"

"Tania, it’s classified army information! I tell you asyou will hear so on the radio that sounds like the truth When I know you haven’t heard, I tell you some more Minsk fell after only six days of war Even Comrade Stalin was surprised"

"Why didn’t he tell us when he spoke to us last week?"

"He called you his brothers and sisters, didn’t he? He wanted you to rise up with anger and fight What good would it do to tell you how deep in the Soviet Union the Germans are?"

"How deep are they?"

When Alexander didn’t answer, she asked in a despondent voice, barely able to get the words out, "What about our Pasha?"

"Tania!" he said loudly "I don’t understand what you wantyou froet him out of Tolled not to cry She didn’t want hia yet," said Alexander, quieter "They haven’t reached Tolmachevo Try not to worry But I’ll just tell you that on the first day of e lost 1,200 planes"

"I didn’t knoe had 1,200 planes"